


The Carnival

by autisticJuggalo



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Carnival, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 14:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2431973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autisticJuggalo/pseuds/autisticJuggalo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gamzee runs a carnival, WEEEE!!!!<br/>:o)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to the Carnival

**Author's Note:**

> How does write story?

      On a normal Alternian night, Gamzee would be laying down outside his hive, with a slime pie freshly eaten, gazing at the stars. Gamzee couldn't help but marvel at the sheer beauty of the night sky, the way all the tiny lights worked together to make something beautiful. It was surely a miracle that made them, or at least, that's what Gamzee thinks. His friends would never go through the hassle of explaining something even a little complex to him, let alone how the universe began. Gamzee's mind started to drift and think of silly things, like Karkat coming out of the water and onto the shore in front of him, imitating a crab by snapping at the air all willy nilly. That sure would be quiet funny, but Gamzee's silly thoughts are swiftly shoved aside by the sound of his Husktop.

      He had received a message, and not from just anybody, but from his kismesis. Gamzee sluggishly sat up to view his computer screen, and a brief sensation of worry came over him for just a second at the site of the screen name; centaursTesticle. Although Gamzee had accepted being kismesis with Equius, he still found it strange how much Equius enjoyed being bossed around by him. But it made him happy, and Gamzee wasn't going to all up and make his bro feel down. Gamzee layed down on his stomach, facing his Husktop as he began to converse with Equius...

-centaursTesticle has begun trolling terminallyCapricious_

CT: D --> greetings highb100d, i am in need of your um

CT: D --> assistance

TC: ArE YoU AlL Up aNd wAnTiNg mE To bOsS A MoThEr FuCkEr aRoUnD AgAiN

CT: D --> no highb100d, i do not require that form of assistance

CT: D --> I am seeking to locate the whereabouts of Nepeta

CT: D --> She had gone on an e%cursion to hunt but has not made her return after quiet some time

TC: NaH MoThEr fUcKeR I HaVeNt sEeN HeR

CT: D --> well please do keep an eye out for her sir

TC: AlL RiGhT My bLaCk rOm bRo iLl tRy tO HeLp

CT: D--> thank you highb100d

-centaursTesticle has ceased trolling terminallyCapricious-

      Gamzee slowly brought himself up onto his feet and captchalogued his husktop. He wondered what Nepeta must be up too, it wasn't like her to ditch on her friends. He wasn't worried though, he knew that Nepeta was a great fighter, and it was very unlikely that someone or something had harmed her. But he was very curious of what she might be up to, so he headed off into the forest in search of her. As Gamzee walked through the woods he saw a great deal of creatures, most of which were small and harmless. The not so harmless ones however seemed to ignore Gamzee, as if he wasn't there. This was likely do to the smell of sopor that lingered from him, predators found it quiet unpleasant.

      As Gamzee neared the center of the forest he could hear the sound of bike horns and laughter in the distance. Gamzee was very surprised to hear the bike horns, he didn't remember there being any other purple bloods near his hive. But after a little more walking it came into his sight, a Carnival! Gamzee jumped with joy as he made his way into the festivities. There were many purple blooded trolls all in varying carnie attire, there were acrobats, strong men, clowns and so on, every where. Gamzee was welcomed right in by them and he started playing around. The carnival was mostly tents and it was clear that this was one of those roaming carnivals, they wouldn't stay in one place long, but they welcomed all purple bloods like family.

      After failing to hit the pins with a baseball for the 17th time Gamzee went to get some more cotton candy, and he notices a small figure behind one of the many tents. As he approached it he put his hand out to offer her some cotton candy. A hand with blue claws reached out and grabbed some, and the smaller troll giggled. Gamzee looked at her confused and asked "So why are you hiding back there, there's a whole mother fucking carnival of fun out here". Nepeta frowned and answered "I've been feline a little nervous, Equius told me about these before, and said that only highbloods are allowed". Gamzee grabbed Nepeta's empty hand and pulled her out from the shadows, into his arms, and told her "I'm sure they wont all up and kick out my motherfucking matesprit".

      They both laugh and Gamzee then brings Nepeta to play some of the games. The troll at the booth seemed surprised at first when Nepeta came over to the booth, and Nepeta felt threatened by her, but she seemed to calm herself when Gamzee showed up and put his arm around Nepeta's hip. The troll told them how to play the game and what they could win, while constantly glancing at Nepeta every few seconds. Once they started playing the troll slipped out of their sight and pulled out a Walkie Talkie. But when she returned to her post Gamzee and Nepeta were already gone, and so was a stuffed Pawbeast from the top shelf.

      Gamzee and Nepeta had entered the largest tent to go see the acrobats in action. They took seats in the back row, and watched as a troll clown came out rolling on a large ball. The clown did a back flip off the ball and then threw it into the air, where an acrobat on a trapeze caught it. As the acrobat swung backwards he threw the ball even higher, then, the ball erupted, and from it emerged 2 small female trolls. As they fell one of them grabbed the other by her long curly horns, and then the troll on the trapeze caught the horns of that one, swinging them onto their own trapeze. Gamzee and Nepeta were amazed by how skillful the acrobats were, Nepeta was twisting and bending her body in motions similar to the acrobats, practically falling out of her seat.

      When all the acrobats landed on high up platforms a spotlight suddenly shined down to the middle of the ring. A small but somewhat fat troll with tall horns stood there, he had a ring masters uniform and a microphone. He announced to the audience, "Welcome everyone, I hope your all having fun, now for this next part we'd like to get one of you lucky highbloods involved in it, those willing to partake in this event please stand up". Knowing that he does practice acrobatics occasionally, Nepeta encourages Gamzee to stand up, wondering if he can match the other trolls' skill. 

      Gamzee stands up and is easily noticeable despite being in the back, do to his tall body and long horns. The Ring Master gestures towards Gamzee and proclaims "You young troll, with the long horns, come on down and lets get you ready". Gamzee walks down to the ring, some trolls whisper about him as he walks by, once he gets to the ring the Ring Master puts a hand on his shoulder and talks to him in private about what they're going to be doing.

      Music starts playing as the Ring master leaves the ring and says "Alright folks, its time for the show!". While the show was starting it dawned upon Nepeta that she had forgotten to tell Equius what she was doing. He must be terrible worried, or even hurt by Nepeta's absence, she equips her husktop and notices some messages from Equius that she had missed. She swiftly started typing, not wanting to miss the show, but also wanting to relieve her moirail...

-centaursTesticle has begun trolling ArsenicCatnip-

CT: D --> Greetings Nepeta, have you made your return from your hunt

CT: D --> ...

CT: D --> It would appear not, please do contact me upon your return

-centaursTesticle has ceased trolling arsenicCatnip-

-centaursTesticle has begun trolling arsenicCatnip-

CT: D--> Nepeta, may I be right in my assumption that you have arrived at your hive by now

CT: D--> Well this is rather odd

CT: D--> Nepeta please do respond, I am beginning to speculate that something might have happened to you

CT: D--> Alright, I have waited long enough, it is clear that you must be in some form of trouble, I shall begin my pursuit of you at once

-centaursTesticle has ceased trolling arsenicCatnip-

-arsenicCatnip has begun trolling centaursTesticle-

AC: :33 < *ac walks through the doorway to her furiend and curls up on his lap*

AC: :33 < *she looks at her moirail with a frown and says*

AC: :33 < i'm so sorry Equius, I didn't mean to worry you

CT: D--> It is quite alright Nepeta

CT: D--> I am very glad to see you are alright

CT: D--> Do tell were you have been off to during your absence

AC: :33 < *ac smiles with relief upon hearing her moirail's response*

AC: :33 < well, I was hunting in the woods, and i heard honking, so I thought it was Gamzee

AC: :33 < but when i went to see what it was, I found a carnival!

CT: D--> Wait Nepeta, are you referring to the Roaming Highb100d Carnivals?

AC: :33 < purrhaps

CT: D--> I told you to stay away from those! The highb100ds are highly excitable and may attack a lower b100d for mere enjoyment

AC: :33 < but Gamzee is here, and they don't seem very angry at all

CT: D--> Hmm, this is strange, perhaps they do respect each others quadrants, i had not given this idea much thought before

CT: D--> However, please do remain by the highb100d's side

CT: D--> If one of them notices you and doesn't know of your affiliation with him, they may-

      Nepeta's attention is pulled away from her screen by the sudden touch of a hand grabbing her shoulder from behind her. She jumps out of her seat, nearly dropping her husktop from her lap to the floor, but luckily captchalogging it before impact. She turns to face the troll, with her knees and arms slightly bent, ready to fight. The highblood strongman who stood before her seemed to be writhing with frustration, he too seemed ready for a fight.

      He spoke with a somewhat loud and raspy voice, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE PEASENTBLOOD!", his words could be heard by the trolls around them, but not by those closer to the ring. Nepeta barked back at him, with anger in her voice, she did not want to deal with this guy, but she tried to remain calm to avoid a fight "I'm here with my Matesprit, who is a purple blood, so please calm down!". The highblood raised an eyebrow, his face still filled with rage, "I DON'T SUPPOSE THIS MATESPRIT OF YOURS IS ACTUALLY HERE?".

      Nepeta gawked at the troll's response, she pointed toward the ring and proudly stated, "He's the troll who was chosen by the ring master, Gamzee Makara! Now are you going to leave me alone?". The strong man was not satisfied with her answer, as he reeled his fist back he shouted with saliva spewing from his mouth, "LIES!". As his fist came forward Nepeta leaned her head to the side, dodging the punch, and brought her claws toward his stomach, stopping it upon touching his skin. She growled into his ear, "Purrhaps you should get a moirail, you hot tempered nut." The troll's face displayed his shock very well, he could not believe how fast she was. But he wasn't about to be up showed by a peasentblood, he swung his elbow toward Nepeta.

      But it was futile, Nepeta could move her whole body far faster than he could move his arms, which of course, just made him angrier. Nepeta wasn't going to just sit there and let him swing again and again. She pierced her claw straight through his wrist, and as she pulled it out, she swiped her other claw across his chest, scraping away his flesh.

      Suddenly, other trolls started to attack Nepeta from all around her, they came at her one at a time, perhaps wanting to show their superiority or maybe they were just blood thirsty.Either way, they were fully intent on killing Nepeta, and all their yelling became noticed by everyone in the tent, even those in the ring. Gamzee was confused, and felt somewhat sad, he was hoping to show off for his matesprit. But he figured he should go see what everybody is getting worked up about.

      As Gamzee started to walk toward the sound of fighting, he felt his head begin to ache a little, it dawned upon him that he hadn't eaten a pie since he left to find Nepeta, which was a good while ago. But his craving for pie subsided when he spotted the fight, and reeled from the sight, causing him to trip on one of the steps. He banged his head on the the stairs, and as he looked up with his dazed vision he could see one of the trolls manage to put Nepeta into a masterlock, holding her arms back, unable to fight.

      As the fist of another troll struck Nepeta's stomach, Gamzee began to feel a way he hadn't felt before, he felt, enraged. Gamzee clambered up the stairs not even bothering to lift himself to his feet, but instead opting to use his hands to help move up the stairs faster. As he reached the commotion he grabbed a troll that stood in his way by their pants, pulling him down the stairs and aiding Gamzee in lifting himself up. He shoved many trolls aside as he made his way through the crowd. Some trolls had noticed him and turned to hold him back, and some to challenge him. But Gamzee was not interested in them, he had his eyes fixated on the two trolls that were beating Nepeta.

      His clenched teeth began to show as he shoved those in his way to the ground, and as he broke free from the crowd entering the small circle in the center, he equipped his deuce clubs. After the troll had struck Nepeta one more time, he turned behind him to see what the noise was, and was greeted with a club to his teeth. As purple blood and teeth flew through the air, the troll that was holding back Nepeta's arms loosened her grip, while in awe of Gamzee. This allowed Nepeta to spring loose, jumping away from her, and nearly falling over next to Gamzee. Nepeta felt a strong rush of air as Gamzee rushed past her, hell bent on striking the troll who helped harm Nepeta. The troll tried to duck as the club came flying toward her face, but this caused Gamzee's club to collide with her horns, smashing through the first one. The club was being pushed down against the troll's second horn and head, causing her to fall to her side.

      She manages to land on her arm, but then Gamzee begins stomping on her head. The crowd was befuddled by Gamzee's rage and power, and also by his targets, only the few who had heard and remembered the argument that lead to the fight knew why Gamzee was defending a low blood. The troll that Gamzee knocked teeth out of came at him from behind, but Nepeta stabbed him in the back of the leg, causing him to stumble, bumping into Gamzee. Gamzee turned toward the troll, and smashed his deuce club into the side of his head, knocking him unconscious.

      Nepeta had never seen Gamzee angry, and was surprised by Gamzee's strength. Knowing that it was over defending her was flattering, but it was clear to her that none of the other trolls wanted to fight them anymore. So she grabbed Gamzee by the arm, which by itself seemed to calm Gamzee down quite a bit. Gamzee was panting, and with each breath he slowly seemed to drift away from his rage, and suddenly Gamzee collapsed in Nepeta's arms. As his eyes began to close he could see a sweaty blue blood make his way through the crowd from the entrance. Frantic words were spoken between him and Nepeta, but Gamzee couldn't make out any of it, he had passed out.


	2. Grey with frustration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat: assess the situation...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How does write a second chapter

-carcinoGeneticist has begun trolling terminallyCapricious-

CG: GAMZEE, WHERE IN THE SPHINCTER BALLOON ARE YOU?

CG: YOU HAVEN'T BEEN ONLINE FOR ALMOST A WHOLE NIGHT

TC: SorrY kARkiTTy, I waS

TC: oH WAit, I dON't thINK i'M doiNG thIs RIGht

CG: WHAT IN THE GRUB STOMPING FUCK?

CG: KARKITTY?

CG: NEPETA, IS THIS YOU?

TC: You caught me

TC: :33 < I guess meow i can use my quirk, heehee

CG: WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON GAMZEE'S COMPUTER?

TC: :33 < Gamzee is taking a cat nap in his recuperacoon

CG: WELL THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN JUST GO AND IMPERSONATE HIM

TC: :33 < Well, after what happened he needed to lay down for a while

TC: :33 < And i figured you might be worried about him

CG: AFTER WHAT HAPPENED?

CG: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

CG: NEPETA?

CG: HELLO!

TC: D--> Nepeta must go rest at her hive, she and the highblood got into a tussle of sorts

CG: WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?

CG: USE GAMZEE'S COMPUTER DAY?

CG: WHY THE FUCK TRUMPET ARE YOU THERE

CG: WAIT, TUSSLE?

CG: WHAT HAPPENED?

CG: IS GAMZEE OK?

CG: WHAT THE FUCK!

CG: WHY IS EVERYBODY TAKING TURNS USING GAMZEE'S COMPUTER AND THEN IGNORING ME

-carcinoGeneticist has ceased trolling terminallyCapricious-

      The incredibly frustrated troll stands up from his seat and starts heading for his door. After hearing of a "tussle" that his moirail was involved in, he began to worry about him. Gamzee wasn't known for fighting, or running away, or any form of protecting himself. And after that display of buffoonery on Trollian, he knew he wasn't gonna get answers unless he went to Gamzee's hive. Karkat exited his own Hive, and began his some what rushed walk to Gamzee's. As Gamzee's hive came into sight, Karkat began to notice drops of purple blood leading from the forest to Gamzee's front door. In a panic, Karkat ran into Gamzee's hive, only to hit his head on what felt like a brick wall, and fall backwards onto his ass. Karkat looked up to see this brick wall, but only saw the blue blooded troll that he had actually ran into.

      Karkat was about to yell at Equius for blocking the doorway, but stops mid word when he notices the amount of purple blood that is stained into Equius's shirt. Karkat jumps up with fear in his eyes, but Equius notices Karkat's worry, and informs him, "Do not worry, this blood does not belong to the highblood". Karkat clenched his fists and yelled, "What kind of idiot do you think I am? That blood is fucking purple!". Equius responds, "Yes, it's A highblood's blood, but not Gamzee's. My apologies for the confusion". Karkat sighs with relief, and is allowed entry by Equius to go see Gamzee. Ordinarily Equius would not be so civil with someone like Karkat, who hides his blood color in secrecy. But he was Gamzee's moirail, and Equius understood more than anything, the worry one can have for someone so dear.

      Karkat made his way to Gamzee's recuperacoon, almost falling over the mess that plagued Gamzee's home like a...    wait, this was strange. The floor had no bike horns or faygo bottles lying around. And all of Gamzee's pie tins were neatly stacked on top of each other. karkat glances back at Equius, who seemed a little embarrassed by what he had done. Earlier when Equius sent Karkat a message on trollian, Gamzee had fallen out of his recuperacoon, and landed on a bike horn.

      After hitting the horn he yelled "OW, somebody move these fucking things!", and Equius of course obeyed the order, ignoring Karkat's messages. But Karkat didn't know of Equius's strange, um, fetish? So he thought it was nothing more than a kind gesture, and even gave Equius a thumbs up as he stated, "Finally, somebody cleaned this shit hole up". Karkat then turned back toward Gamzee, who was fast asleep in his coon, and stepped up close to him, patting him on the head.

      As he patted Gamzee, Karkat muffled under his breath, "Thank goodness, you stupid clown". Karkat noticed that some of the sopor slime was on Gamzee's lips, which was weird, trolls can't eat while they're sleeping. Suddenly Gamzee jumped out of his coon and yelled, "Surprise!", and Karkat fell back on his ass again. Gamzee was laughing it up as he slowly slid out of the recuperacoon, and sat down on his floor with Karkat. "What's up my invertabrother, you wanting to be kicken a wicked elixir with your best motherfucking friend?", Gamzee asked, as he leaned behind his recuperacoon to grab a faygo bottle.

      "NO, I don't want any of your disgusting sludge!", Karkat yelled, unamused by Gamzee's shenanigans. "Now, one of you tell me what the bulge smoking fuck happened!", he shouts. Equius reaches to grab a chair, accidentally breaking it. He then awkwardly sits down on the floor with Karkat and Gamzee to explain what happened, but Gamzee wasn't paying attention, he was to busy thinking about the carnival.

      It was so much fun being there, and he wished he could go again. Gamzee then remembered the ring master, he was a funny looking troll, but his suit looked bitch tits wicked. Gamzee wished he had one of those coats, but suddenly his daydreaming is interrupted by the sound of a grumpy troll. karkat and Equius were both looking at Gamzee, they must have asked Gamzee a question, but he had no idea what it was, so he just replied with a, "Honk". Karkat looked back toward Equius as he rolled his eyes and said, "See, there is no way this faygo guzzling makeup disaster could have done that". Equius responded sternly with, "I am just going by what Nepeta had told me, but from what i saw upon my arrival, I'd say that is indeed what happened". karkat tilted his head in disagreement, but reluctantly stated, "Alright, I guess I'll talk to Nepeta about it later".

      Gamzee could see that he wasn't really part of this conversation, so he got up to grab a pie. Equius had also stood up, and looked toward Gamzee to say, "Alright highblood, I think it is time I take my leave". Karkat was heading toward Gamzee's computer, possible to contact Nepeta or somebody else, and Equius was heading out the door. That's when it hit Gamzee, Equius knows how to build robots and stuff, so maybe, he could help Gamzee make his own carnival.

      Gamzee jumped with joy at the thought of it, and looked back toward the door to talk to Equius, but Equius had already left. Gamzee shrugged and went to go contact him on his computer, but Karkat was there. As Gamzee put his head on top of Karkat's he asked, "Hey best motherfucking friend, can I be up and using my computer for a bit". Karkat shouted, "Not now Gamzee!", which prompted Gamzee to lean over Karkat and say, "But Kaaaaaarbroooooo, i neeeeeed it, honk". karkat shoved Gamzee off of him and told him to wait, so Gamzee just leaned on the desk to see what karkat was typing.

-carcinoGeneticist has begun trolling grimAuxiliatrix-

CG: HEY KANAYA, CAN I ASK YOU ABOUT SOMETHING?

GA: Of Course

CG: ALRIGHT, SO IT'S ABOUT GAMZEE

GA: May I Inquire As To Whether Or Not This Predicament Pertains To Your Moirallegiance?

CG: SORT OF

CG: YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT PERSONALITIES AND ALL THAT CRAP, RIGHT?

GA: I Dabble In Psychology, Yes

CG: WELL, WOULD IT BE POSS-

      Karkat shoves Gamzee's head away from the screen, telling him too, "Mind your own business shithead!". So, Gamzee just starts chowing down on some pie while he waits for Karkat to get off his computer. It's pretty rude for him to use it without asking and to not get off it when Gamzee needs it. But it's all good, Gamzee's chill with it. He ain't about making his bros and sis's feel down, so he'll just wait.

      As Gamzee waits, he thinks more about the carnival idea. He starts to imagine his friends being there, all dressed in carnie outfits. It would be so cool, maybe, Gamzee thought, "Maybe, I should ask all of them to be in it". Hell yeah, Gamzee was sure of it now, he knew it would be so mother fucking wicked, he had to message all of them. And hey, he could ask Karkat about it right now.

      Gamzee put his arm on Karkat's shoulder with a big smile across his face. When Karkat looked at Gamzee he had a strange look on his face, it seemed some what worried. But he replaced it with a smile when he saw Gamzee with his big silly face, all covered in paint. He would never admit it, but Karkat sure does enjoy Gamzee's company, face paint, pie, faygo, and all. Gamzee said to Karkat excitedly, "Karbro I just had the most wicked as fuck idea, what if we made a motherfucking carnival bro!". Karkat looked puzzled, he couldn't tell how serious Gamzee was about this, then Gamzee said, "Imagine it bro, Equius could be the-", Gamzee imitates Equius's voice, "STRONG man".

      Karkat laughed quietly as Gamzee continued, "And like that Eridan guy, he could be like, a motherfucking magician or some noise". The image of Eridan being a magician and sawing Feferi in half appeared in Karkat's brain, he couldn't help but let out a good laugh at the idea. And seeing Karkat's positive reaction made Gamzee even more excited, he was nearly jumping out of his polka dot pants with excitement. Karkat told Gamzee, "That sounds fun and all Gamzee, but how the fuck would we build a fucking carnival?". Gamzee sounded triumphant when he replied with, "Equius could help build it, he likes being all up and bossed around by me, so why not ask him to help the motherfuck out". Karkat felt proud of Gamzee, it was a good idea, and it could be a lot of fun, so why the fuck not.

      Karkat was all for it, and he told Gamzee with a smile, "Alright bro, let's build a 'motherfucking' carnival!". Gamzee started fist pumping into the air, and fell over onto his back, but he didn't even care, he just started laughing. Karkat was laughing with him, and then turned back toward the screen to finish his conversation with Kanaya.

GA: Are You Still There Karkat?

GA: Karkat, Is It Gamzee?

GA: Karkat, With What We Were Discussing Your Sudden Absence Has Me Worried

GA: Do You Need Me To Come Over?

CG: NO KANAYA, IT'S ALL FINE

CG: LET'S JUST FORGET ABOUT THIS

CG: EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT

GA: Are You Sure?

CG: YEAH, IM SURE

CG: i'LL TALK TO YOU TOMORROW

-carcinoGeneticist has ceased trolling grimAuxiliatrix-


	3. Carnies Assemble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's recruiting time! Gamzee, Karkat, get your asses in gear!  
> (btw, this is the next day)

-terminallyCapricious has begun trolling centaursTesticle-

TC: HeY ThErE My bLaCk rOm bRo

CT: D --> Oh, highb100d, this is rather

CT: D --> Unorthado% of you to contact me

CT: D --> Rather than the other way around

TC: YeAh

TC: I WaS AlL Up aNd wAnTiNg tO AsK A MoThErFuCkEr tO Um

TC: I mEaN

CT: D--> Yes?

TC: EqUiUs i mOtHeRfUcKiNg cOmMaNd yOu tO Um

CT: D--> Oh yes highb100d

CT: D--> Command me, what task do you desire me to complete

TC: I uM

TC: I CoMmAnD YoU To hElP Me bUiLd a cArNiVaL

TC: If yOu dOnT MiNd

CT: D --> OH YES HIGHB100D, I shall complete your ridiculous task

TC: SwEeT BrO

TC: MeEt aT My mOtHeRfUcKiNg hIvE Yo

CT: D--> As you wish highb100d

-terminallyCapricious has ceased trolling centaursTesticle-

 

-terminallyCapricious has begun trolling adiosToreador-

TC: HeY TaVbRo

AT: oH, hEY GAMZEE

TC: GuEsS WhAt bRo

AT: wHAT?

TC: WeRe mAkInG A MoThErFuCkInG CaRnIvAl

TC: HoNk :o)

AT: wOH, cOOL GAMZEE

AT: wHERE IS IT?

TC: ItS GoNnA AlL Up aNd bE By mY MoThErUfCkInG HiVe bRo

TC: Do YoU WaNnA RuN A MoThErFuCkInG BoOtH ThErE

AT: yEAH, tHAT SOUNDS FUN

AT: pEOPLE COULD PLAY RING TOSS ON MY HORNS, oR SOMETHING

TC: HeLl FuCkInG yEaH

TC: HoNk HoNk HoNk

AT: i GUESS I'LL GET THE THINGS I NEED READY

AT: wHEN DOES IT OPEN?

TC: ItS GoNnA Be aLl uP AnD MoThErFuCkInG GoInG In a dAy oR TwO

AT: aLRIGHT, sEE YOU THEN GAMZEE

AT: }:D

TC: :o)

-terminallyCapricious has ceased trolling adiosToreador-

 

-terminallyCapricious has begun trolling gallowsCalibrator-

TC: HeY My wIcKeD SiS

TC: GuEsS FuCkInG WhAt

GC: WH4T >:?

TC: Im mAkInG A MoThErFuCkInG CaRnIvAl

GC: WOW TH4T SUR3 SOUNDS FUN

GC: 4R3 TH3R3 GONN4 B3 LOTS OF G4M3Z3Z TO PL4Y

GC: >:]

TC: HeLl mOtHeRfUcKiNg yEaH

TC: BuT SiS

TC: Do yOu wAnT To aLl uP aNd Be pArT Of iT

TC: :o)

GC: OOH Y34H

GC: 1 C4N B3 ON3 OF TH3 4CROB4TS

GC: DO YOU H4V3 4 TR4P3Z3 4LR34DY TH4T 1 C4N PR4CT1C3 ON?

TC: FuCk yEaH I Do sIs

GC: P3RF3CT

TC: AlRiGhT SiS SeE Me aT My hIvE SoOn tHeN

TC: Oh wAiT

TC: SoRrY :o(

GC: N1C3 ON3 G4MZ33 R34L N1C3

GC: >:[

TC: SoOoOoOoRy

TC: BuT YeAh

TC: MeEt uP At mY HiVe

GC: OK

-terminallyCapricious has ceased trolling gallowsCalibrator-

      Gamzee suddenly hears the voice of Equius at his door announcing his arrival, so Gamzee tells him, "Come on in bro". Equius grips the door handle tight, crushing it in his hand and in his haste, rips the door off its hinges. He places the door down leaning on the door frame and apologizes, "My apologizes highblood, I did not mean to dismantle your establishment". "It's all good motherfucker", Gamzee says with a smile.

      When Gamzee steps toward the doorway a head wearing a blue hat pops out from the other side. "Hi Gamzee" Nepeta says with excitement in her voice. Gamzee felt a tad bit down, he was hoping to surprise Nepeta with the carnival, but he forgot to tell the others not to tell Nepeta, whoops. Oh well, Gamzee greeted Nepeta with a hug, and when he looked outside his hive he noticed a BIG wagon full of robotics, folded up tents, and many other things they would need.

      It was a good thing Equius and Nepeta brought all this, Gamzee didn't actually have much supplies at all. He had the the trapezes though, which Terezi would need once she arrived. Equius said to Gamzee, "Alright highblood, I shall begin work immediately, feel free to, um, instruct me how you see fit". "Nepeta, you shall get to work as well, your choice in festivity may take longer to construct than others", and with that Equius grabbed some things from the wagon and got to work. Gamzee asked Nepeta, "What's he motherfucking talking about?", Nepeta grins and tells him, "You'll see", and went off to build her 'festivity'.

      Gamzee then heard a voice call out from behind him, "Hey Gamzeeeeeeee", it was Vriska. Gamzee hadn't invited her, Karkat told him that he would deal with the, scarier, of their friends. So what was she doing here, Gamzee was befuddled, but still greeted her all the same, "Hey there, spidersis". Vriska could hear the fear in his voice, she loved how much she frightened him, it was a good ego boost. "I saw the big sweaty oaf lugging things this way, and wanted to see what was going on", she said with a grin. She puts on a fake frown to say, "Are you making a carnival, and you didn't want to invite meeeeeeee?". Gamzee brought his hand to the back of his neck and awkwardly tried to tell her, "Well, um, Karbro said he was-", he gets cut off by Vriska, who had placed her hand on his shoulder.

      "Come on Gamzee, let's not talk about that ol crab, let's talk about the carnival", she said with fake enthusiasm. She put her hand to her hip, tilted her head and asked, "Do you even have security for it?". Gamzee hadn't thought of security, he was planning on letting everybody in, so he didn't think he would need it. "I, don't think I need any, sis", Gamzee said unsure of himself. Vriska scoffed at him, "Of course you do Gamzee, what if somebody tries to break stuff, or steal something". Before Gamzee could think of a response Vriska informed him, "No need to worry Gamzee, I'll take up the post". Gamzee shrugged in agreement, not wanting to make her mad, she then snapped her fingers with a look on her face like she just got an idea.

      "I should make a holding cell!", she said with actual excitement in her voice, "Oh yeah, this is gonna be great, thanks for the job Gamzeeeeeeee". And then she was off, and Gamzee sighed with relief, he didn't like talking to her much, she was pretty intimidating. Gamzee looked over at his Kismesis and Matesprit, hard at work, and felt real good. He knew this carnival was gonna be great, and maybe it could even bring everyone closer together, possible even Vriska. Even though Gamzee was kind of scared by her, he also kind of felt sorry. So many of her friends were mad at her for what she did to Tavros. Gamzee was upset too and all, but he's pretty sure she didn't mean to hurt him, no one is that mean, right?

      So, Gamzee just went back inside his hive to finish messaging his friends before Terezi arrived to practice acrobatics with him. He hopped onto his seat and got to typing.

-terminallyCapricious has begun trolling apocalypseArisen-

TC: HeY ThErE SiS

AA: hi gamzee

AA: I havent talked with y0u in a while

AA: how you doing?

TC: Im cHiLl sIs

TC: I WaNtEd tO Be uP AnD AsKiNg yOu aBoUt sOmEtHiNg

AA: sure buddy

TC: WeRe aLl gOnNa bE BuIlDiNg a wIcKeD As fUcK CaRnIvAl

TC: Do yOu wAnNa bE In tHe mOtHeRfUcKiNg sHoW

AA: oh that sounds great

AA: sure oh you know what i can be!?

TC: WhAtS ThAt sIs

AA: i can be a pawbeast tamer

AA: its gonna be so much fun

TC: WoH SoUnDs wIcKeD SiS 

TC: BuT WhErE YoU GoNnA Be uP AnD GeTtInG A MoThErFuCkInG PaWbEaSt

AA: ill take care of that gamzee hehe

AA: when does the carnival open?

TC: AbOuT A DaY Or tWo

AA: thats plenty of time

AA: ill be ready by then

AA: see you later gamzee i gotta go get myself a pawbeast

-terminallyCapricious has ceased trolling apocalypseArisen-

 

-terminallyCapricious has begun trolling cuttlefishCuller-

TC: WhAt iS Up mY FiShY SiStEr

CC: Glub glub!

CC: )(i Gamzee

TC: WeRe aLl uP AnD MaKiNg a mOtHeRfUcKiNg cArNiVaL SiS

CC: W)(ale that sure sounds -EXCITING!

TC: I WaS HoPiNg yOu wOuLd wAnT To AlI uP AnD Be pArT Of tHe MoThErFuCkInG sHoW

CC: You aren't squidding around?

CC: YAY, t)(is will be so muc)( mot)(erglubbing fun!

TC: WhAlE YoU CaN Do aNyFiN YoU WaNt

TC: I BeT ThE BuOyS AnD GiLs wOuLd dOlPhInItElY LoVe tO SeE YoU ThErE

CC: HAHAHAHA STOP IT GAMZEE YOU'RE KRILLING ME!!

TC: :o)

CC: 38D

CC: W)(ale, when does the carnival open?

TC: In a dAy oR TwO

TC: YoU GoNnA Be tHeRe sIs

CC: Of glubbing course I w)(ale

CC: )(e)(e

TC: IlL sEe YoU tHeRe SiS I GoTtA Be uP AnD GeTtInG ReAdY

CC: Sea you later Gamzee!

-terminallyCapricious has ceased trolling cuttlefishCuller-

      Gamzee has now finished contacting all the trolls he was supposed too, according to Karkat. And Terezi was sure to arrive any minute now, so Gamzee went outside to wait for her. But when he got to the door there was another troll there instead. Kanaya had come to see Gamzee, he had no idea why, Karkat hadn't said anything about it. But when their eyes met she said, "Greetings Gamzee, I have come in hope that you will allow me to watch over, um, things?" Kanaya said, in a strange tone of voice. Gamzee said, "Oh fucking K, I guess sis", and he shrugged and let her into his hive. "Gamzee, may I ask what is going on outside?", Kanaya asked. Gamzee told her, "Karbro didn't tell you yet? We're making a motherfucking carnival".

      Kanaya seamed confused, Karkat had clearly not talked to her like he was supposed too, or at least not yet. Then, there was a knock at the broken door, Terezi had arrived. "I'm here Gamzee, oh, hey Kanaya, why are you here?", Terezi asked. Kanaya took a moment to think of a reason, then told Terezi, "I'm going to be creating some carnival attire for everyone". Terezi then says with a happy grin, "Oh cool, but I think I'll wear my Redglare outfit, but you should definitely make something for Gamzee". She then said excitedly, "OH, maybe you could base it off his ancestor, so we'll match!".

      Kanaya seemed to think the idea sounded good, and as she gave a nod she told Terezi, "Sure, I'll base it off the Grand Highblood then", and she pulled out a measuring tape and started measuring Gamzee. After she was done, Gamzee asked her if she could get him a ringmaster coat too, and she politely agreed.Then Gamzee and Terezi went to the trapezes and started practicing their moves, and coming up with routines. A good distance away, another troll has begun pestering his friends to get them ready for a carnival that his moirail wants to set up.

      He knows that some of their friends can be total asshats, so he decided that he would take care of the more stubborn ones for Gamzee.  But Vriska doesn't seem to be responding to him, and neither has Kanaya, which is strange for Kanaya. She was almost always online and ready to talk, especially this early in the night. But Karkat just shrugged it off, and went to message the others.

-carcinoGeneticist has begun trolling caligulasAquarium-

CG: ALRIGHT COUNT SEA DIPSHIT, I GOTTA ASK YOU SOMETHING

CA: oh kar are you finally professing your undying lovve for me

CA: im flattered and all kar but im going to havve to turn you dowwn

CG: QUIT FLATTERING YOUR DAMN SELF AND FUCKING LISTEN FISHFUCK

CG: GAMZEE AND I ARE MAKING A FUCKING CARNIVAL AND WERE ASKING EVERYONE TO BE A PART OF IT

CG: ARE YOU IN?

CA: wwhy in the glubbing fuck wwould i wwant to be in some dumb carnivval wwith that idiot

CG: FEFERI'S GONNA BE IN IT, YOU COULD ASK TO DO SOMETHING WITH HER OR SOME CRAP

CG: JUST MAKE A FUCKING DECISION

CA: oh alright

CA: wwont be much of a showw wwithout me anywway

CG: GOG, SHUT THE FUCK UP

-carcinoGeneticist has ceased trolling caligulasAquarium-

 

-carcinoGeneticist has begun trolling twinArmageddons-

CG: SOLLUX I NEED TO ASK YOU ABOUT SOMETHING

TA: ii2 iit about the carniival?

CG: FUCK, HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT IT

TA: no rea2on, what diid you want two a2k though.

CG: I WAS GOING TO ASK IF YOU WANTED TO BE PART OF IT

CG: LIKE, I DON'T KNOW, RUN A BOOTH OR SOMETHING

TA: yeah 2ure, ii'll ju2t run one of the game2 though ii don't want two be two iinvolved.

CG: ALRIGHT THEN, THANKS MAN, THIS MEANS A LOT TOO GAMZEE

TA: yeah well, ii can't not go

CG: WHAT'S THAT FUCKING MEAN?

TA: iit'2 nothiing KK, ii'll bee there, ok

CG: UH, OK THEN, I GUESS

-carcinoGeneticist has ceased trolling twinArmageddons-

      That was strange, it wasn't like Sollux to be so agreeable, and was that a bee pun? Whatever, it's time for Karkat to head down to Gamzee's to see how everything is going. He captchalogues his husktop and heads out. When he arrives he sees a quite large wagon about three fourths full of carnival supplies. Equius is assembling some machinery, and Nepeta is, digging for some reason. Wait, is that Vriska over there? Why is she here, Karkat was supposed to contact her, not Gamzee. But she seems to already be getting ready for the carnival as well, although it's hard to tell what carnival festivity she's building, it looks like a jail.

      But moving on from that, Karkat could hear music and laughter coming from inside Gamzee's hive, and enters. He is greeted with the sight of Kanaya sowing a cool looking suit, and Gamzee is nowhere to be seen. The music and laughter is coming from the second floor of the hive, so Karkat figures he's up there. But what Karkat is most interested in is why Kanaya is here, she hadn't known about the carnival yet, as far as Karkat knew. He walked up to her and questioned, "Kanaya, why are you here?". She replies wittingly, "I'm making outfits for everyone, starting with Gamzee".

      Karkat seemed annoyed by her answer and shouted, "But I didn't even tell you about the carnival yet, so why in gogs name did you come here!". Kanaya could see that Karkat was upset by her decision to come and admitted, "Alright Karkat, alright, I came here to keep an eye on Gamzee, after what you told we, I was concerned". Karkat was writhing with frustration, and shouted again, "I TOLD YOU IT WAS FINE, WHAT THE FUCK KANAYA, WHAT, THE, FUCK!". "I did not mean to antagonize you in anyway Karkat, I am simple taking precautions just in case something were to happen", Kanaya says, worried Karkat might kick her out. Karkat seems to calm down a bit, but tells Kanaya, "Listen, Gamzee is fine, I can tell, that story Equius told me was bullshit, and I know it, so don't bother with this".

      Kanaya sighs, and agrees, "Alright Karkat, but I do still wish to finish making the outfits, if that's alright with you". Karkat shrugs as he heads up to see Gamzee and says, "Yeah, that's fine, just, don't fuss over him, ok". When Karkat gets upstairs the room is, empty. There was the radio playing music, but no one to be seen. Karkat wandered into the middle of the room and said, "Hello?". That's when a pair of upside down hands grabbed him from underneaths his arms and lifted him into the air. Karkat was yelling, "OH MY GOG, OH MY GOG, OH MY GOG", and he was then thrown forward into another trolls arms, who was sitting safely on a raised platform.

      "Hey Karkles", she said while laughing. Karkat would have burst from her arms as soon as possible if they weren't so high up, so he reluctantly sat there on her lap. He shouted at her, "What the fuck Terezi, you two scared the shit out of me!". Him saying this just made her laugh harder, and then Gamzee came swinging toward them again. When he reached the end of his swing his upside down face was in front of Karkat's. He raised the bike horn in his hand up to Karkat's nose and HONKed it, followed by him swinging away again. Terezi laughed at Gamzee's antics and told Karkat, "Calm down fussy britches, we're just practicing for the show".

      Karkat let out a heavy sigh and replied, "Alright, whatever, but get me down from here". Terezi looked toward Gamzee and yelled, "Gamzee, let's do the drop off!", Karkat didn't understand that she was referring to an acrobat routine they had come up with. Terezi sat Karkat in front of her and wrapped her legs around his stomach, then Gamzee came swinging toward them and took hold of Karkat's ankles. He pulled both of them off the platform and swung them toward another trapeze.

      Gamzee let go of them, causing them to spiral in the air, and then Terezi grabbed hold of the trapeze with both hands, swung her legs forward and threw Karkat out the second floor window. Karkat was freaking out, but then he landed in a large box full of inflated balloons. That was a pretty enjoyable experience for him, but he couldn't help but feel mad, what if she had missed the box? But Karkat just climbed out and got to supervising the others. Karkat could see that Equius was working on some tall, but thin mechanical structure and asked, "What in the globefondling fuck is that thing?". Equius replied, "This is merely the center of a larger structure known as a carousel. When it is complete it wi-". Karkat interrupts Equius, "Yeah yeah, ok, I don't really care, you could just stop at, 'It's a carousel' for fucks sake".

      Equius becomes very agitated, but tries not to lash out at him, he hasn't forgotten the anger management tricks Nepeta had taught him. So he just changes the topic, "Have you talked to Nepeta yet about what had happened to the highblood?", he asks, struggling to sound polite. Karkat tells him, "Uh, yeah, not yet, but come on, you and I both know there's no way Gamzee did that stuff". Equius is annoyed by his answer, "Just go talk to her you imbecile", he says. Before Karkat can yell back at him, Equius turns on his loud blowtorch and starts welding machinery together. Karkat leaves him to go talk to Nepeta, but still doesn't feel like hearing the bullshit story Equius had told him, again. When he reaches Nepeta, she is putting water proof padding on the floor and walls of a big narrow hole she had dug.

      "Ok, seriously, what in the fuck could you possible be making?", he asks. Nepeta looks up from inside the large crevice and joyfully tells him, "I'm making what all shippers dream of, a tunnel of love!". Karkat rolls his eyes, of course she would be making this, what else would she want to build. Karkat tells her, "Alright, I'll be back in a bit to help out, I gotta check what Vriska is doing". "Alright Karkitty, but don't tail Gamzee what I'm building, It's a secret", Nepeta tells him. Karkat agrees and goes over to see what Vriska is up to. The building that Vriska made, from the outside, looks like a hollow cube of concrete, with metal bars in the windows and a reinforced steel door, "How in the crotchblistering fuck is this part of a carnival?", Karkat wonders out loud.

      Vriska, whom is sitting atop the building looks down at Karkat and quotes, "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly". She then jumps down from the roof and Karkat can see that she is wearing a guard's uniform. "So" Karkat starts to talk, "This is a prison then". Vriska gasps, and tells him, "It's not just a prison, it's The Spider's Parlor!", she then grabs his wrist and drags him inside to show him her awesome jail. Once inside, Karkat could see that there were two half's too the building. One was dark and dreary, and the other resembled the inside of a mansion, decor wise.

      Vriska pointed toward the dreary side and told him, "That's wear all the prisoners will be held, but over heeeeeeeere..." Vriska lead him through a door, "is where I'll be staying, while i keep 8 eyes out for the criminals". karkat is actually impressed by the place, it looks like a real parlor. Vriska clearly was dying to make that spider parlor reference, she went all out. She brought Karkat over to a large wall covered with computer screens, "This here will be my eyes and ears for the whole carnival, it's gonna be great!", she says, clearly proud of herself. Karkat told her, "Wow, this is pretty great, but I don't get it, how are those computer screens your eyes and ears?". Vriska scoffs at him, "Geeeeeeeese, Karkat come on, really?

      This is going to show the feed from the surveillance cameras, I just haven't installed them yet". Karkat replies, "Alright, well I guess you got security down then, I'll check back later, right now I gotta go help with building". And then Karkat left, The Spider's Parlor, to help Nepeta with building, The Tunnel of Love. Vriska went into a back room, grabbed long cords and some cameras and went out to set them up. "Gamzee!", Kanaya yelled up the stairs, "Please come down and try on the outfit I've sown for you!". But there is no response, so Kanaya yells again, "Gamzee, get down here please, I need you to try this on!". There is a loud crashing sound and then a ruckus of bumps, shoves and steps. Suddenly, Gamzee and Terezi were rolling down the stairs, and crashed into Kanaya. Kanaya was on her back, with Gamzee laying across her and Terezi laying on top of him.

      There was a moment of silence before Gamzee let out a, "Honk", and then all three of them laughed. Gamzee turned his head to face Kanaya, while still laying there, and said, "What you all up and need sis?". Terezi climbed off of them and Kanaya lifted Gamzee off her and told him, "I said, I need you to try on the outfit I made". She then walks Gamzee over to the outfit and hands it to him. Gamzee starts taking his shirt off and Kanaya shrieks, "NO, Gamzee, not in here!", sounding somewhat amused. Gamzee heads off into another room and Terezi starts chatting with Kanaya, "So, kanaya, how you doing?". "I'm quite fine, how are you doing? It's good to see you smiling again, ever sense what happened with Vriska" Kanaya tells her.

      Terezi sighs, "Yeah, I guess that clown made me forget about it", Terezi's attitude had changed to being some what glum. "Well, I guess Gamzee has that effect on all of us, I can see why Karkat wanted to be moirails with him". Terezi's fakes a smile as she yells, "Yeah, and this carnival is gonna be great!". The muffled sound of Gamzee's voice could be heard through the wall, "Hell motherfucking yeah!", Terezi and Kanaya giggled. Terezi seemed to stop feeling glum and Kanaya seemed to pick up on that. She asked, "Wait, do you have, um, pale feelings for him?", Terezi jumped with shock.

      "WHAT, no, I mean, I don't think it's, I", Terezi couldn't figure how to respond to Kanaya's question. Suddenly, Gamzee came back into the room, wearing his grand Highblood outfit. He asked, "So motherfuckers, do I look wicked or what?", but then Terezi ran upstairs and Kanaya just sat there. Gamzee sat next to Kanaya and asked, "What just motherfucking happened?". Kanaya looked at him with concerned eyes and spoke, "I think, um", it was hard for her to choose her words correctly.

      "She um, well", Kanaya is interrupted by Gamzee, "Is she feeling down? Was it me? Aw man, did I all up and fuck something up?". Gamzee stood up and went toward the stairs, "Don't worry, I'll go talk to her". Kanaya started worrying, what was she witnessing? Is Karkat and Gamzee's moirailegence in danger? She started to panic and ran out of the Hive after Gamzee went upstairs. When Gamzee got upstairs he found Terezi sitting with her back against a wall, facing the ground. Gamzee walked next to her, put his back against the wall and slid his way down to sit with her. He asked, "Hey sis, are you okay? Was it me?", Terezi turned to face him.

      She seemed very worried and Gamzee seemed sad, she realized that he thinks he did something wrong and tells him, "No Gamzee, it's wasn't you". Gamzee smiles and asks her, "Well why you up and feeling down sis?". Terezi smiles, and notices Gamzee's cool outfit. She stands up and says, "It's nothing Gamzee, let's just get back to practicing". But outside the hive, Kanaya was losing it, she didn't know what to do. She couldn't just tell Karkat that his red crush has pale feelings for his moirail. But what should she do, no options seemed to make sense to her. Then, from out of the blue, Vriska puts her hand on Kanaya's shoulder, and asks, "Heeeeeeeey Kanaya, what's wrong?".

      Kanaya turns toward Vriska and blurts out, "Where di-", but stops mid word when Vriska points to the camera on top of the pole they were standing next too. Kanaya starts trying to talk, but it comes out as, "I, HE, SHE, TERZI, GAZ, HE, THEY, OH GOG, OH GOG". Vriska shushes her and brings her into The Spider's Parlor, sitting her down in a comfy chair. Vriska sat down in a chair across from Kanaya and gave her something to drink. "Alright", Vriska begins, "Tell me what's going on". Kanaya knew she shouldn't, but she was so desperate to talk to someone about it, she couldn't help it. "I think, no, I'm pretty sure that Terezi", she pauses and takes a sip of her drink. "That she, has pale feelings for Gamzee!".

      Vriska seemed surprised, but kept her composure, unlike Kanaya and asked, "Wooooooooh wait, seriously? I never would have seen that coming, wow". Kanaya seemed ashamed of herself for telling about Terezi's feelings, and put her head down toward her lap. Vriska put her hand on Kanaya's shoulder again and told her, "Don't worry Kanaya, I won't tell anyone, promise". Kanaya could here the sincerity in her voice, but couldn't help but feel bad.

      Kanaya says while quivering, "May we um, may we talk about something else please, I need to stop thinking about this". Vriska nods and asks, "Well, what else do you wanna talk about?". Kanaya thinks for a moment, and says, "Well, um, what happened with Tavros, if you don't mind sharing?". Vriska tensed up for a moment, but got over it and began to tell of her troubles. "Well, I wanted to help out Tavros by making him tougher, so I designed this bad ass level for him, but rather than even try to beat it, he chickened out. And, i don't know, I just got really mad, so I used my powers to throw him off the cliff. I mean, I kill other trolls all the time, it shouldn't be a big deal. But Aradia stopped talking to me and Terezi tricked me into getting my damn arm blown off, along with my vision 8 fold".

      Kanaya had actually not known what happened, and was taking this in for the first time. She sat there silent, thinking for a while. But then she stated, "Well, i don't think it was right to do that to Tavros, but Terezi's response seems just as horrible. Please tell me you two aren't still fighting". Vriska told her, "No Kanaya, were not, but, I miss them, Terezi, Aradia, even Tavros a little. I miss flarping with them, but I went and ruined it". Vriska seems on the verge of tears when suddenly she feels the warm embrace of Kanaya. She was hugging Vriska as she told her, "It's okay Vriska, it's okay, you will always have me". Back outside where people weren't busy with feels, Karkat and Nepeta had finished filling The Tunnel of Love with water, and getting the entrance made. They stood shoulder to shoulder and looked at their creation. Without even looking at each other, they high fived, and Karkat said, "This is so fucking perfect". Nepeta put her hands on her hips and proclaimed, "This is the most purrfect thing on all of Alternia".

      "Well I see you two have made exceptional progress", Equius said from behind them. Nepeta turned around, jumped toward Equius and then said, "Oh my gog, Equius, it's so perfect, it's just how I wanted it!". She was jumping with joy and Equius was glad to see it. Karkat asked, "So, how much have you gotten done?", and Equius bragged, "Well, I have finished setting up four rides, an eating area, a kitchen, placed around snack machines in strategic locations, put up multiple small tents for booths and just finished setting up the largest tent for the acrobatics. But um, your tunnel is lovely".

      Karkat was baffled and Nepeta laughed, "Oh, quit your bragging Equius, it's pawfully rude", said Nepeta. Equius grinned and let out a chuckle, which Karkat had never seen before, he didn't even know Equius could laugh. Nepeta jumped up on Equius's shoulders and he brought her to see his work. Karkat followed and was stupefied by how well Equius could build a carnival. Nepeta and Equius went and lounged in the wagon that was now only one fourth the way full, and Karkat went inside Gamzee's hive to check up on him, it had been a while after all. When Karkat walked in he noted that Kanaya wasn't there, and then went upstairs.

      He yelled up to Terezi and Gamzee, "Hey guys, take a break, come on down!". Gamzee dropped down in front of Karkat, making a honking noise when he hit the ground. Karkat looked up toward Terezi and yelled, "You coming!?". She yelled back, "No, I think I'll stay up here a while". Karkat yelled, "Okay!", and went downstairs with Gamzee.  "Ok Gamzee, the big tent is ready, so we can bring all your acrobat stuff over", Karkat said. "Sweet bro!", Gamzee replied. Karkat sat Gamzee down and said, "But first, I need to ask you about something". Gamzee sat back and asked, "What's up bro?". Karkat asked him, "I know this is gonna sound dumb, but, Equius and Nepeta both are telling me that you lost your shit the other day at that carnival", Gamzee looked confused, "and I just want to know if you remember that happening".

      Gamzee told Karkat, "Nah bro, I don't remember none that noise, did that motherfucking happen?". Karkat stood up and said, "No, no it didn't, just forget about it", and they both went back upstairs to get the acrobat stuff. While they were packing it up, Terezi went to check out the carnival so far. She walked around, ate some cotton candy and tried out some of the games. Since she would be performing, she might not be able to do this when the carnival actually opens. But the real reason she left, was to think in private. She didn't know what to do, or how Karkat or Gamzee would react if she ever brought it up. But she couldn't just hide it forever, she needed to do something. "No, maybe I'm just over thinking it, maybe I just feel this way now, and it'll pass", Terezi thought to herself.

      "Yeah, I'm sure that's it, and besides, even if Gamzee felt the same, I couldn't do that to Karkat". She threw a ball, knocking down all the pins and grabbed a prize, it was a stuffed clown. After she captchalogued it, she went back toward the hive and could hear Gamzee's voice announce to everybody, "SLEEP OVER AT MY MOTHERFUCKING HIVE EVERYBODY!". 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For added visual, imagine that Gamzee's acrobat outfit will look like this, but without the shoes: http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/102/f/5/gamzee_subjuggulator_ref1_by_spriteocarina-d4vvt2i.png


	4. Hardly asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat, Nepeta, Equius, Vriska, Terezi, and Kanaya all sleep over Gamzee's hive one day before the carnival opens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck, I just went shipper crazy last chapter, let's see what unfolds...

      After all the trolls have returned to Gamzee's hive with sleeping bags, and Equius fixed Gamzee's door, they all set there sleeping bags in a circle in the second floor room. Going around, the order of them was: Equius, Nepeta, Gamzee, Karkat, Terezi, Kanaya, then Vriska. In the center of the circle was different flavors of faygo, sopor pies, mixed vegetables (that Equius brought), and a flashlight. They had all decided it would be good fun to tell ghost stories. A few had already been told when Vriska started to tell one:

      "Deep in one of the forests of Alternia, a group of rowdy trolls were gathered around a campfire, telling stories, just like we are. One of the trolls, a young purple blood wearing clown face paint, had decided to explore the woods, leaving his friends by the fire."

      "Ooo, that trolls sounds like me sis!"

      "Yeah Gamzee, we know, shut up"

      "The troll had found a hidden cottage far from his camp, and went to see if anyone was home. When he got to the door, he could hear the sound of a sowing machine. He gave the door a knock and the sound stopped and was then replaced with the sound of light footsteps heading toward the door. The troll noticed a bright light emit from under the door that seemed to vanish right before the door opened. Standing in front of him was an adult jade blood, who wore a very fashionable dress.

      The purple blood whimpered out a shy, 'Hello", before the Jade blood whisked him inside of the cottage. Without saying a word she left the room and the purple blood just sat there in a chair. He was anxious to see the beautiful jade blood again, and when she came back in the room, she was holding lipstick to her mouth. The purple blood stood up and started walking toward her, the idiot had assumed she wanted to make out, so dumb. As the Jade blood lowered her arms, the purple blood embraced her. She held him to herself tightly and whispered in his ear, 'Time for dinner'. The purple blood suddenly heard the hum of a chainsaw, and he was pushed away from the jade blood, and she SAWED HIM IN HALF!!!!!!!!"

      Suddenly, Kanaya jumps up from behind Gamzee while revving her chainsaw, and the frightened Gamzee jumps in the air screaming, "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!!!!!!!!!!". Vriska, Kanaya, Terezi and Nepeta all laugh, but Equius insists that, "It is not your place to treat a highblood in such a manner, if we were adults, you would be executed for such a heinous crime!". Vriska paps Equius on the shoulder and tells him, "Oh come on Equius, we're just, HORSING around!". They all laugh it up again, and Equius clenches his fists, but is swiftly tackle-pounced by Nepeta.

      All of them look over and realize that Gamzee is in the corner with his hands over his head and Karkat shoosh-papping him. Karkat yells over to them, "Alright fuckheads, no more stories, try to do something that doesn't involve scaring the fuck out of my gog damn moirail!". Terezi stops laughing, and looks at the others for suggestions. After a moment of silence and then discussion and too Karkat and Equius's dismay, they agree on seven minutes in heaven. They put everyone's names into Nepeta's hat and have Kanaya pick first, she pulls Vriska's name out.

      They get shoved into a closet and then the others play truth or dare while they wait seven minutes. Equius is dared by Terezi to try and ride a wild hoof beast. They head outside and find a few in a field and Equius tries to climb aboard the "Most exquisite" of them. Which he accidentally kills, causing him to cry and Nepeta has to cheer him up. Then Karkat chooses truth, and is asked by Gamzee if he thinks Gamzee is weird, to which he replies, "Of course I do". But right before everybody laughs, he says, "But it ain't because of the make up, or the faygo or sopor eating. You're weird because you don't piss me off like everyone else". Nepeta goes, "Aaaaaaaaaaw" , Terezi seemed to feel more awkward about her feelings and Equius had no reaction.

      Then Nepeta chooses dare and Gamzee dares her too let him put his face paint on her. She agrees and is painted up, when Gamzee finishes, and Nepeta looks in a mirror she sees that Gamzee made her face look like a cat's. She jumps with joy straight into his arms, and gives him a kiss. Then a timer goes off and the closet door is opened by Karkat, revealing Vriska and Kanaya making out. Kanaya seems embarrassed as she exits the closet and Vriska is smiling proudly. Karkat asks Kanaya, "So, are you two-", she tells him, "Yes", and nothing more is said about it.

      They then put all the names back in the hat and have Nepeta draw, she gets Gamzee's name. "What are the chances!", Vriska yells. "It's a motherfucking miracle sis", Gamzee tells her as he and Nepeta head into the closet. Truth or dare then continues, Kanaya gets dared by Karkat to wear a pair of Gamzee's pants for the rest of the night and is upset by how "Distasteful" they are, but does still give into the dare. Then Nepeta dares Terezi to act like a dragon for a few minutes and she puts on her red hood, starts roaring and marching around the room. Which Nepeta starts doing to for a while and then Karkat is dared to arm wrestle Equius by Vriska. He gets his arm smashed through the floor, making a small hole in it. While his arm is still stuck in the ground, Terezi bites his leg, causing him to flail around and knock over an open bottle of faygo, which spills across the floor. "WHAT THE FUCK TEREZI!", Karkat yells, but she, Vriska and Kanaya just laugh, although Kanaya laughs quietly as not too upset Karkat more.

      Vriska is then dared to cartwheel down the stairs, and they place pillows at the bottom, laughing as they see Karkat's arm in the ceiling of the first floor room. Vriska starts her cartwheel as Terezi and Kanaya wait at the bottom of the stairs. Vriska successfully cartwheels down half the stairs before she tumbles down and lands head first in the pillows. Kanaya seems concerned but Terezi was laughing hard. Vriska pulled her head out of the pillows and looked pissed. Karkat had finally bean freed from the floor and was heading down the stairs with a grin on his face as he looked at Vriska's failure.

      Vriska looked back at Karkat and then at Terezi, who was still laughing a lot. Vriska shouts, "Oh, you think that's funny huh, well TRUTH OR DARE TEREZI!". Terezi replies wittingly, "Truth, i'm obviously not gonna let the angry spider make me do something stupid". Vriska smiles, because she wanted Terezi to pick truth. She then asks Terezi with an angry smile, "Do you have pale feelings for Gamzeeeeeeee?".Terezi jumped back, Kanaya looked shocked and Karkat said, "What the fuck are talking about Vriska, obviously she doesn't, I'm his fucking moirail". Karkat then notices the look on Terezi and Kanaya's faces and raises an eyebrow to say, "Wait-". But before he can say anything else, Terezi runs outside and Kanaya shortly follows after her. Near the door Kanaya yells to Terezi, "Wait, no, Terezi, I didn't mean t-", and Terezi screams, "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!". Kanaya falls to her knees from grief and watches Terezi run off into the carnival.

      Kanaya feels the hand of Vriska on her shoulder and swipes it away. She then asks Vriska, "Why? Why did you say that", with tears in her eyes from the guilt she feels. Back in the hive, Karkat was sitting on the stairs staring at the floor. What in the fuck just happened, does his red crush actually have pale feelings for his moirail, what kind of sick joke is that. Karkat remembers a romcom like this, and in it, the moirail in question had too auspisticize the now black feelings the other two had for each other because they became violent.

      But Karkat didn't want that too happen with him and Terezi, frankly, he still couldn't fully believe what just happened. Equius, Gamzee and Nepeta came down the stairs and Nepeta asked, "Where did evfurryone go?". Karkat, without looking at them, said, "They um, just wanted to go look around the carnival for a bit". He then stood up to walked past them up the stairs and laid down in his sleeping bag. The others followed and laid down as well, Nepeta in Gamzee's recuperacoon and Gamzee in her sleeping bag, by Gamzee's request. A little while later, Kanaya and Vriska came into the room to lay down. Vriska was constantly trying to make Kanaya feel better until Kanaya finally fell asleep, but Terezi never showed up.

      The next night, Gamzee was the first to wake up. He stood up and stretched his long limbs, then he walked over to Nepeta and kissed her forehead. He looked around the room and saw Kanaya sleeping with her head in her sleeping bag, Vriska laying against Kanaya's sleeping bag, Karkat laying face down, and Equius was, oh my gog, he was sucking his thumb and his legs were pulled up to his stomach. Gamzee couldn't resist kissing his forehead too. But then he realized that there was one less friend than there should be. Gamzee went outside to look for Terezi, careful not to wake anybody. Yeah right, he slipped on a puddle of faygo and fell on top of Equius, waking him up. But before Equius could say anything, Gamzee put his finger too his lips and whispered, "I fucking command you to go back to sleep bro". And Equius did just that, then, Gamzee made his way outside, without waking anybody else. He checked the wagon, but she wasn't in there, so Gamzee looked over and saw the carnival for the first time. He hadn't looked at it the night before and was blown away by the sight.

      After staring at it for a bit, Gamzee made his way in, and looked in every tent. After a good while of searching, he finally looked in one of the small buildings right next too the big tent. Gamzee looked at the door and there was a name written across it, Terezi Pyrope. It was her trailer to change in for the show, and Gamzee slowly slid the unlocked door open. The room was pitch black, except for the light coming in from the doorway. Once the door was fully open, Gamzee could see Terezi lying on the floor in a pile of dragon plushies. Her glasses were near the door, despite her being across the room. Gamzee picked them up and walked over to her, wanting to make sure she didn't lose them. He sat down on the pile and asked, "Hey, sis, you still sleeping?". Her eyelids flickered a bit before she said, "No, I'm awake Gamzee", without moving her body at all.

      Gamzee put his hand on her head and asked, "Are you okay sis?", with calm but concerned eyes. Terezi slowly put her hand up and moved Gamzee's off her head. She then told him, "Gamzee, I don't, I can't hurt Karkat". Gamzee looked confused and laid down facing Terezi to ask, "What you mean sis?". She told him, "I mean, I like him Gamzee, like, I'm red for him". Gamzee smiled, "Aww, that's great, you know, Karbro told me not too tell you, but he is so motherfucking red for you too". Terezi clutched her arms around herself and whimpered, "Not anymore". Gamzee hugged her as he said, "What, no, hey sis, come on, Karbro is grumpy, but he doesn't mean those angry things he's always shouting".

      Terezi shoved her head into his chest, crying, and managed to say, "It's not that Gamzee, it was something, that I did". Gamzee patted her back and said, "Nah sis, I'm sure it's all gonna be fine, it always is". Terezi just shook her head in disagreement, still in Gamzee's arms. "Sis, out of all the wicked miracles that I've seen, the strongest one sis, the biggest and bestest miracle I've ever seen, is how much Karbro cares for us. And out of us all, he cares for you the most, I know it". Terezi brings her head up, and could feel the warmth of Gamzee's smile. She asked him, "Gamzee, why are you here, with me, right now?". Gamzee told her, "Well sis, I guess I was kinda scared, I woke up and you weren't with everybody, I mean, I had to make sure you're all fucking good, you know?". Terezi smiled and put her head back on Gamzee's chest and they just laid there.

      Back in the hive, a normally grumpy troll had woken up and was walking around the room. He recalled the events of the previous night, to his own horror, he was damn sure they actually happened. And too make matters worse, the only trolls missing from the room, are the two who he needs to talk too, separately. He needed to get to the bottom of what was going on, he may know that Terezi is feeling pale for Gamzee, but he doesn't know what triggered these feelings. And he doesn't know how Gamzee feels about her, he hasn't showed any signs of feeling pale for her, but she didn't show any to Karkat either, so anything was possible.

      But if Karkat could find out what distress Terezi was in that Gamzee must have helped comfort her for, then maybe he could fix that problem and avoid this whole fiasco. Or was he being to optimistic, what if Gamzee wanted to be moirails with her and left Karkat. Not to mention that his chance at being her matesprit is pretty much gone now. Fuck, Karkat was losing it, he marched down the stairs and started looking for Gamzee first, both to question him and to calm himself down. His stomping awoke Kanaya, who looked over at her husktop she had brought over, because it's screen had just lit up. She had received a message:

-gallowsCalibrator has begun pestering grimAuxiliatrix-

GC: H3Y K4N4Y4

GA: Oh Thank Heavens You Are Alright

GA: Im So Sorry Please Do Believe Me

GC: 1TS 4LR1GHT 3V3RYTH1NG 1S F1N3 K4N4Y4

GC: BUT 1M SO CONFUS3D 4BOUT TH1NGS R1GHT NOW

GA: Are You Alright Where Are You

GC: 1M UH

GC: W1TH G4MZ33

GA: Oh My

GC: PL34S3 JUST DONT T3LL K4RK4T 4LR1GHT?

GC: OR VR1SK4 FOR TH4T M4TT3R

GA: I Shall Not Speak A Word Of This To Anyone

GA: I Feel So Terrible Though

GA: For Telling And Then What Transpired Do To My Mistake

GC: 1TS 4LR1GHT 

GC: 1 C4NT ST4Y M4D 4T MY S1S 4FT3R 4LL

GA: My Word He Is Rubbing Off On You

GC: Y34H 1 GU3SS SO

GC: BUT M4YB3 1TS 4 GOOD TH1NG?

GC: >:?

GA: I Guess It Could Be Especially If It Makes Things For You Any Better

GC: TH4NKS 1 GOTT4 GO NOW W3R3 PR4CT1C1NG OUR 4CROB4T1CS

GA: Farewell I Do Hope Things Work Out Well In The End

GC: M3 TOO

-gallowsCalibrator has ceased pestering grimAuxiliatrix-

      Kanaya closes her husktop and rolls over to her other side to face Vriska, which wakes her. "Hey Kanaya", Vriska says groggily. "Hi Vriska", Kanaya says with a forgiving smile and she gives Vriska a kiss before standing up. She heads downstairs to make food for everyone. Vriska soon came downstairs as well and was impressed that Gamzee had the proper things for cooking a proper meal, in his home. She asked Kanaya with a nervous tone, "So, is everything alright?". Kanaya assured her, "Yes, luckily Terezi is very forgiving, as am I, but don't think I'm letting you off the hook completely Vriska". Vriska felt relieved to hear that, but before she could say anything Equius entered the room and began to speak, "Ah, I see you've begun the cooking, do make something without meat, I fined it most undesirable".

      Kanaya informs him, "I know of your eating habits Equius, I shall accommodate for everyone, rest assured". Equius seemed delighted by her response and stretches his arms and legs by the doorway before yelling upstairs, "Nepeta, you must wake yourself, it is not proper for a troll of your blood to sleep in all night!", and then went outside. Nepeta then sluggishly walked down the stairs with her eyes closed somehow and her stuffed pawbeast, that she won at the highblood carnival, wrapped in her arms. She sat down in the now furnished room, that Kanaya had set up, with a table and chairs. Nobody bothered to ask where she got them from. Right as Nepeta sat at the table, Kanaya poured her a cup of Mewlong Tea. After taking a sip, Nepeta seemed much more alert, with her eyes actually open now. Vriska sat down, and let out a laugh, when Kanaya and Nepeta looked at her she had put her chin onto her hand and elbow on the table and said, "What a morning, waking up in Gamzee's hive, to a home cooked meal, my new matesprit wearing polka dot pants and Nepeta covered in face paint".

      They all started laughing together and Kanaya looked down at the pants and laughed harder. "I guess they are pretty comfortable, I forgot this is what I was wearing", Kanaya said with a smile. Nepeta went to go wash her face, but Kanaya decided to keep the polka dot pants on, cause they were really comfy. Equius enters the Hive again, after completing his morning jog and asks, "Is the food prepared for consumption?". Kanaya puts his plate on the table and gets back to cooking the other meals.

      Back outside, Karkat had checked Gamzee's trailer and some of the small tents. He was about to check inside the big tent when he heard a voice with a familiar accent call out, "Kar, your shining star has come to save the show!". Oh boy, Eridan had showed up and Feferi was with him. Karkat walked over to meet up with them and asked them, "Okay, so what are you two planning on doing in the show?". Feferi answered excitedly, "Eridan's gonna be a magician!", Karkat couldn't believe it, that silly thought he had before was actually gonna happen. Karkat asked, "But I thought you said magic doesn't exist?", Eridan gawked at him and told him, "It doesn't, all that a magician does is use science to fool the imbeciles into believing in magic". "Alright whatever, both of your trailers are over there, you can practice for a while or some shit, but did either of you see Gamzee when you came in?". Feferi told him, "No Krabcatch, I didn't, but I'll tell him your looking for him if we see him whale practicing".

      And then she grabbed Eridan by the arm and they walked off toward their trailers. Karkat turned back around and went to check inside the large tent. When he entered he looked around and didn't see anyone, but then he looked up and saw Gamzee swinging by. He was practicing for the show, with Terezi. It worried Karkat to leave them together now, but he didn't want to make a scene with how many people were already there. Only Tavros, Aradia and Sollux needed to show up now, so Karkat just left the tent, unnoticed and went to wait for them by the entrance. When he got there Sollux and Aradia were just arriving with a big cage.

      "Hey KK", Sollux said when he noticed karkat heading their way. "Hi", Karkat said, "So what's in tha-", Karkat notices the pawbeast inside the cage and freezes in his track. "Told you he was gonna freak out AA", Sollux says. "Don't worry, we got the kitten under wraps, come on Sollux, I can't lug her around myself!", Aradia says giddily. Karkat snapped out of his frozen state and told them, "You guys can bring it to the trailers over there", Karkat points to the trailers. Sollux uses his mind powers to move the cage and Karkat watches them go to the trailers. "Woh, cool, a pawbeast", Tavros says from behind Karkat. Karkat looks at the small troll in his four wheeled device.

      He had multi-colored rings and a bunch of fiduspawn stuff in his lap. Karkat asked, "What in the fuck are you going to be doing?". Tavros told him, "Well, I was hoping you guys would let me have fiduspawn as my booth, but if not, I brought ring toss instead". As Karkat opens his mouth to talk, his voice is blocked out by the encroaching sound of Gamzee yelling, "TAAAAAAAAAVBROOOOOOOOO!". Gamzee jumps onto Tavos's lap, almost causing his four wheeled device to fall backwards. "Hey Gamzee", Tavros says, smiling, "Uh, can you get off me Gamzee, your sitting on my fiduspawn supplies". "Sure thing bro", Gamzee says, before he leaps from Tavros's lap. Tavros then asks Gamzee, "Where should I set up my booth, oh, and is it okay if I do fiduspawn?".

      "Of fucking course it's okay bro, your fida-game is wicked as fuck! Let's get this shit all up and ready!", Gamzee says with a huge smile. Gamzee then grips Tavros's four wheeled device and rushes off to one of the empty booths across the carnival. That was not exactly how Karkat wanted to encounter Gamzee at the time, but Gamzee was clearly busy with Tavros now. So Karkat sucked in his get and went walking to Terezi's trailer to talk to her. He figured she would be there sense he didn't see her heading to the hive and there's no reason to stay in the big tent now. 

      Karkat knocked on the door to Terezi's trailer and heard her say, "Come on in". When he opened the door he saw Terezi in her Redglare outfit and when Terezi realized it was Karkat who had knocked, her expression began to show worry. "Terezi, I have to talk to you", Karkat tells her as he walks into the trailer, closing the door behind him. Terezi put her head down as Karkat began to speak, "This is all pretty nerve racking, but uh, we can't just ignore this". Terezi nodded her head in agreement, still facing the floor. She seemed content with just listening to Karkat, rather than speaking herself.

      "So, your really pale for him then, I guess part of me still wanted to think this wasn't actually happening, but here we are", Karkat said, now also facing the floor. "But, why Terezi, why for Gamzee, of all trolls you're pale for my moirail", Karkat says with contempt and confusion in his voice. Terezi began to speak, but her voice was hard to understand do to her stress, "I don't know, he just makes me feel better, I didn't want to start feeling like this". Karkat was looking at Terezi, studying her face as she talked to help himself understand. Terezi put her hand onto the back of her neck and continued, "I don't want to hurt you Karkat, I had actually felt red for you, but, I guess that's not gonna happen now, huh?". Karkat's face was frozen and Terezi couldn't figure out what he was thinking. Suddenly, Karkat jumps forward a bit, "Are you, serious, oh my gog, this is so great!", Karkat said. Terezi looked confused and Karkat explained while smiling, "Terezi, I've been red for you since we first met and I wasn't gonna stop because of this".

      Terezi took a moment to absorb what she had just heard and then smiled. She grabbed Karkat and hugged him, Karkat then said with a giggle, "This is so perfect, now we don't gotta deal with that Gamzee thing, cause I can make you feel better, haha". "Wait Karkat", Terezi began to say, "I'm not just going to throw away my feelings because of this, I'm still pale for him". Karkat respond condescendingly, "But Terezi, I could just help you through whatever it is that you needed Gamzee for, it's not complicated". Terezi seemed very annoyed by what Karkat had said, "This isn't a stupid romcom Karkat, things aren't that simple!", she yelled at him as she backed away a step. "Terezi, your just being emotional, I've seen time and time again that a matesprit can do just as well as a moirail in comforting someone, and besides, it's not like Gamzee was pale for you too". Terezi shoved Karkat in the chest, "Being pale for someone is more than just that you idiot, and I'll have you know that Gamzee does feel pale for me!", Terezi yelled at him.

      Karkat told her, "No, Terezi calm down, wait what, how do you know if he does?". "Because unlike you, I actually had a feelings jam with him, and I'm sure you were to busy huffing and puffing about the stupidest shit like you always do to notice your moirail's existence!", Terezi yelled. "The only fucking thing I was 'huffing and puffing' about was you trying to steal someone else's moirail, my fucking moirail!", Karkat yelled back. Terezi shoved karkat repeatedly until he was against the the wall beside the door and yelled, "Well why don't you go talk to your 'fucking moirail' about it, I'm sure he'll be surprised to hear you want to know how he feels for once!". She then swung the door open and shoved Karkat outside and slammed the door into him. Karkat fell down from the impact and just laid there for a few seconds.

      Over at Tavros's booth, fiduspawn was all set and Tavros was playing a practice game with himself for fun. He was about to spawn another small creature when someone suddenly stomped on the one he had already spawned. "Oh, uh, hi Karkat", Tavros says, upset by the death of his little friend. Karkat asks him, "Where is that fucking clown right now?". Tavros starts to tell him, "Well, um he, uh", and is cut off by Karkat yelling, "Just tell me where the fuck Gamzee went already Tavros". Karkat was clearly very angry about something and Tavros didn't want to make it worse, but he was having trouble remembering what Gamzee went to do because of the stress Karkat was giving him. "He, uh, I think he went, to um, his trailer, to uh, get something", Tavros said, tripping over his words.

      Karkat marched off toward the trailers and Tavros felt relieved, he had never seen Karkat that mad before and he gets mad a lot. Tavros hopes Gamzee calms him down soon, he doesn't want anyone else to feel the way Karkat made him feel just now. But Tavros is sure Gamzee will calm him, he always does after all. "Heeeeeeeey Tavros!", said a voice approaching his booth, oh no, Vriska was coming and Tavros did not want to talk to her after what happened. But he put on a smile and said, "Hi Vriska", none the less. Then Tavros noticed that Kanaya was with her, "That's a relief, at least if Vriska does something, this time somebody can help me", Tavros thought to himself.

      "Hey, I wanted to talk too you about, well, what happened", Vriska put her right hand on her own shoulder. She then told Tavros, "I mean, about what I did", Tavros couldn't believe it, was he about to get an apology from Vriska freaking Serket. Maybe it had too do with Kanaya being there, but regardless of why, Tavros was excited and relieved. Vriska sat down in a chair across from Tavros and Kanaya stood next to her, silently. "I wanted to say sorry, I shouldn't have done that too you, I gave into my anger and I apologize for it", Vriska said, not making eye contact. Tavros told her, "Wow, thanks Vriska, apology accepted, this is great, now we can be friends again right? I feel so great now".

      Kanaya asked, "Were you upset by what happened to your legs?", and Tavros told her, "No, I'm used to the chair now, but um, I wasn't feeling very good a minute ago, cause uh, Karkat was yelling at me". "What in heavens for?", Kanaya asked concerned. "He wanted to know where Gamzee was, he seemed really mad, but I'm sure Gamzee will make him feel better, right?", Tavros asked with a smile. "Oh my, I should uh, I should go check on them, you two carry on, I'll return momentarily", Kanaya said looking worried. After Kanaya left, Vriska let out a happy sigh and put her elbows on her lap and head on her hands. "Soooooooo Tavros, don't think I'm some push over now, I'm just making Kanaya happy, frankly, I think you deserved to soar off that cliff". Tavros looked toward his feet and said, "Oh, um, okay then", in a sad tone.

      "Tavros, I won't try and push you to get better anymore alright, but I'm not apologizing for what I did, you should have manned up and at least tried to win that fight". Tavros felt like complete shit now, but at least she agreed not to hurt him anymore, so that's good. Vriska got up to leave but said, "See you around Wheel-barrel", and with that insult, she was gone and Tavros just put his head down on the table next to him and sighed.


	5. Drowning in anger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We sit watching our screens while some global newscaster tells us that today we’ve had six-hundred homicides and fifteen-hundred violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We know things are worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in our hives, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, “Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my recuperacoon and my Husktop and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone”. Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t know what to do about the oppression and the hemospectrum and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I am a TROLL, Gog damn it! My life has VALUE!" I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"  
> ~The Sufferer~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like, the start of almost every paragraph is transitioning into a different location, lol

      "For the last time Fef, I am not black for him!", Eridan yells as he hurls a spear at the picture of Sollux on the dartboard mounted on the door to his trailer. The spear pierces through the board and the door, sticking out the other side. "Oh calm down grumpy gills, I think you two would be great together", Feferi said with a smile. "Just don't make me have too auspisticize you two", she says, giggling. Eridan sighed heavily and told Feferi, "You know, for a moirail, you sure do love antagonizing me Fef".

      "I'm just trying to help, your the one always glubbing about your quadrants" Feferi explains. Eridan sighs again and calms down a bit to tell her, "Alright fine, maybe my feelings are black, but do you think he wou-". Eridan stops talking when he hears his trailer door open. "WHAT THE NOOKFONDLING FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING, WHY IS THERE A SPEAR STICKING OUT OF YOUR FUCKING DOOR!", Karkat yells from the doorway. "Sorry Krabcatch, Eridan was just venting is all, everyfin is fine now", Feferi answers. Karkat yells, "WELL GET THIS STUPID THING OUT OF THE FUCKING DOOR", and then he marched over to the trailer across from Eridan's and kicked the door open. After he marched inside he slammed the door, that read Gamzee Makara, behind him.

      "What crawled up his nook?", Eridan asked Feferi, she just shrugged and went out the door. Before she left she said, "I cod-ta get dressed for the magic show, sea you in a bit Eridan", and she waved good bye, closing the door as she left. Eridan went over to his clothes rack and started changing into his magician outfit that Kanaya had made for him. He looked at himself in the mirror and said to himself, "I make this look good". He then picked up the large target and a box full of knifes that he had in his trailer and began to head over to the big tent.

Over at the Tunnel of Love, Nepeta and Equius were finishing up construction and were about done except for a few things. While they were working Nepeta noticed Aradia and Sollux coming over and went to talk to them. "Nepeta, come back at once, if your tunnel is to be completed in time we must maintain a proper work schedule", Equius told her. Nepeta pouted and begrudgingly got back to work. Aradia and Sollux came up to talk to them still, even though she had to keep working on the tunnel while talking. "Hi Nepeta, hi Equiuse, your Tunnel of Love is looking lovely!", Aradia said with two pistols and a wink. Nepeta laughed, "Thanks, oh my gosh, you look so purrty Aradia!", Nepeta said, noticing Araida's red pawbeast tamer uniform.

      "Aww, thanks, Sollux said the same thing, hehe", Aradia says and looks over at Sollux, who wasn't paying attention at all. Aradia nudged him with her elbow, startling him and said, "Sollux, what is up with you today? You seem to always be focusing on something else, are you okay?". "I'm fine AA, I just uh, didn't get much sleep", Sollux told her. Aradia doesn't seem to believe him, but she moves on, not wanting to pressure him. "So are you gonna take Gamzee for a ride through the tunnel Nepeta?" Aradia asked. "Fur sure! How about you two?", Nepeta asked with a grin. Aradia smiled, but Sollux told them, "Actually I can't, I gotta do stuff during the carnival". Aradia gave Sollux a disgruntled look and told him, "I'm sure no one would mind if you left your booth for a little Sollux, come on".

      Sollux seemed to be thinking of a response still when Nepeta told him angrily, "Could you imagine how pawful it would be to have to go through the Tunnel of Love alone!?". Aradia gave him the young woofbeast face and Nepeta glared at him with anger. "Fine, I guess your right, I can go", Sollux tells them while looking at the ground. Nepeta's expression does a three-sixty into a huge smile and Aradia gives him a hug. Sollux didn't even react to the hug, he was staring at the ground and seemed deep in thought about something.

      Inside Gamzee's trailer, somebody had popped the cap on a fizzy bottle of anger and it was pouring out. Gamzee had just finished putting his acrobat suit back on, that Kanaya gave him last night. That's when Karkat came bursting in from the doorway, slamming the door violently. "GAMZEE, GOG DAMN IT, WHAT DID YOU SAY TO TEREZI!", Karkat screeched. "Woh bro, calm it down, you needing a shoosh papping?", Gamzee asked, concerned about Karkat's anger. "OH FUCKING NO, NOT THIS TIME, THIS TIME YOU'RE GONNA FEEL THE UNCENSORED PAINFUL STING OF MY HOT TEMPERED MOUTH YOU FUCKING CLOWN!", Karkat yelled while swatting Gamzee's hand away from him. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO TEREZI, NO ACTUALLY, I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHY YOUR HAVING FEELING JAMS WITH SOMEONE BESIDES YOUR GOG DAMN MOIRAIL!", Karkat said, still exploding with anger.

      Gamzee nervously told him, "I don't uh, what you up and yelling bout? I'm not making an understanding of what your shouting bro". Karkat grabbed the pie that Gamzee had sitting next to him, ready to be eaten and threw it across the room at a wall. "YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING CAN YOU, BECAUSE OF THIS STUPID SHIT YOU'RE ALWAYS HORKING DOWN LIKE IT'S PART OF YOUR STUPID CLOWN RELIGION!", Karkat yelled as he stomped over to a table that held multiple sopor pies. Karkat gripped the edge of the table and shouted, "NO FUCKING MORE GAMZEE!", and flipped the table. Gamzee ran up too Karkat and tried to get him to calm down, but Karkat just pushed Gamzee away from him. Gamzee stumbled backwards and tripped on a bike horn, landing on more of them, causing them all to honk. "GOG DAMN IT, NO MORE HONKING EITHER FOR FUCKS SAKE, UNTIL YOUR ABLE TO FUCKING THINK I'M TAKING THESE AWAY!".

      Karkat started captchaloging all of the bike horns in the room and Gamzee tried to hide one in his shirt. Karkat barked, "GIVE ME THE FUCKING HORN GAMZEE, OR SO HELP ME!", and Gamzee reluctantly gave Karkat the horn and laid on the ground. As Karkat marched out of the room he yelled, "NOW THINK ABOUT WHAT I ASKED YOU AND YOU'D BETTER HAVE ANSWERS WHEN I COME BACK!". As the door slammed shut, Gamzee rolled onto his side, put his hands to his face and started whimpering.

      Kanaya had just made her way too the trailers when she saw Karkat leaving Gamzee's. Kanaya rushed up to him and asked, "Karkat, is everything alright, what happened?". Karkat told her, "Oh everything is all hunky fucking dory here Kanaya, thanks for giving a fuck, unlike when you didn't bother too warn me that Terezi was pale for my fucking moirail!". Kanaya was startled by Karkat's anger, "But Karkat, I couldn't just tell you her secret, that would have been cruel". "Oh, but you were perfectly fine with telling your new matesprit all about it, weren't you!", Karkat yelled as he started walking away. Kanaya yelled back at him as he left, "This is no way to treat your friends Karkat!".

      She hears him yell, "WHAT FUCKING FRIENDS!?". And then he was gone and Kanaya stood there silently, her lips quivering. In the silence she could hear the moaning of Gamzee inside his trailer. She opened the door and peeked her head in, throwing the door open when she saw Gamzee lying on the ground crying. "Gamzee, it's alright", she said as she sat down and picked his head up onto her lap. "Why, why was Karbro so, so mad", Gamzee whimpered. "I don't know Gamzee, I've never seen him like this before", Kanaya said, as she looked around the room at the mess Karkat had made. Kanaya realized that their moirailegence was clearly over, two trolls that are meant to be moirails would never treat each other like this. "And, he took all, all of my horns sis", Gamzee whimpered. Kanaya uncaptchalogued a puppet she had brought from her hive and gave it too Gamzee. "Here, I had intended to use this as a prize for a booth, but perhaps it could aid you in dealing with your sorrows?", Kanaya asked as she handed the doll over to Gamzee.

      Gamzee just stared at its face and soon stopped crying. "Perhaps Gamzee, you should go talk to Terezi, you two have been becoming good friends, yes?", Kanaya said. She helped Gamzee too his feet and cleaned off his suit for him a bit. "I believe she was in the acrobatics tent when I made my way here, oh and do leave the puppet behind, you don't want too misplace it", Kanaya told him. Gamzee put the puppet down in a chair, and walked out of the trailer with Kanaya, forgetting to close the door.

Inside the big tent, Terezi was sitting on one of the raised platforms, waiting for Gamzee. They were supposed to do a bit more practicing while the last of the carnival was being finished. As Terezi waited, she saw Eridan come into the tent carrying some things and setting them up in the stage. Terezi decided to have some fun while she waits, by messing with him. Eridan had just put the large target in place, when he heard a swooshing sound behind him. He turned, but nobody was there. So, he made his way to the exit, to get the other supplies for his magic show. Then he heard the noise again, and when he turned to see what it was, a stuffed clown was sitting there on the ground, looking toward him. Far up at the top of the audience seats, a bike horn could be heard honking. Eridan asked with anger, "Alright, whose glubbing with me?". "Greetings", Kanaya said from the entrance, "AH HUH!", Eridan yelled as he pointed his rifle at Kanaya and Gamzee.

      Terezi came flying in from above, landing on the rifle as she yelled, "NOOOOOO!". Terezi and the rifle hit the ground, Eridan tried to pick it up, but Terezi was holding on tight. They struggled back and forth until Kanaya asked, "Why exactly are you two fighting?". They both looked at Kanaya, then at each other, then the rifle, then back to each other, then the rifle, then Kanaya, then each other, and then Kanaya one last time and said together, "I have no idea". Terezi let go of the rifle and they both stood up. Eridan put away his rifle and patted the dirt off him, as he shuffled past the three of them, he said, "Well, if we're done wasting our time away, I've got things to glubbing do!". And then he stormed out of the tent, but the others just started talking as he was leaving. "Terezi, I do believe Gamzee is in need of some assistance", Kanaya told Terezi. Terezi asked, "What you mean?", as she looked over at Gamzee. Gamzee's face paint was smeared from tears and him rubbing his eyes, but he smiled at Terezi when she looked at him. Terezi jumped forward and gave Gamzee a hug, yelling, "Oh no, what happened bro?". Gamzee put his head into her shoulder and hugged her back. Kanaya smiled, but felt kinda awkward watching, so she left to go see Vriska and Tavros, to ensure her apology went well.

      Terezi carried Gamzee to the top of the raised platform and took some emergency pillows out of her sylladex, that she had intended to use in case of an acrobatic incident. They laid on the pile of pillows and Gamzee put the back of his head on Terezi's lap. Terezi was trying to fix his makeup with one hand and was combing her other through his hair as she asked, "So, tell me what happened, was it Karkat?". Gamzee sighed, and quietly answered, "Yeah". "Was it about me?", Terezi asked, feeling responsible. Gamzee said with a frown, "I think, but I didn't get why, he was just so motherfucking mad".

      Terezi put her head down and was face to face with Gamzee when she told him, "I'm sorry Gamzee, me and Karkat got mad at each other because he didn't want you to be with me". Terezi felt so responsible for Karkat flipping out at Gamzee and wished she had just put aside her feelings so Gamzee would be okay. Gamzee saw the sad look on her face and put his hand on her cheek, "It's okay sis", he said. "If that's why Karbro was mad, then it's okay", he told her. Terezi started to cry, but not from guilt, it was from joy. Gamzee sat up and hugged her tight and she hugged back tighter. When they let go, they both brought their right hands up and made a diamond with their fingers.

      From the top of the ladder of the platform, a pair of cat like eyes saw  what looked like Redglare and The GrandHighblood being pale together. Nepeta made her way back down the ladder, she had walked into Kanaya just a minute ago. After she told Nepeta what had happened, she had to go make sure Gamzee was okay. Nepeta silently made her way out of the big tent, relieved to see her matesprit was alright. She wanted to go update her shipping wall, but there were more important things to do.

Kanaya made her way back to Tavros's booth, to check that Vriska's apology had gone well after she had left. When she got there, she saw Tavros with his head on a table and asked, "Are you alright Tavros?". Tavros's head jumped up, causing his horns to knock a lamp over. Tavros looked at the broken lamp rather than Kanaya and said, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine". Kanaya stepped closer to Tavros and told him, "You do not appear to be so, what happened? Was it Vriska?", she asked. Tavros just stared at the broken lamp and didn't say anything. Kanaya put her hand on his shoulder, and then Tavros finally looked at her.

      Kanaya could easily see how upset he was and told him, "It is alright Tavros, you can tell me". Tavros sucked in his gut and just blurted it out, "She said, I deserved to go off the cliff". Tavros put his head down, disappointed in himself for telling, he wished he could just be stronger and not care what Vriska thought of him. But he did care and he couldn't stop caring, she was always trying to push him to be better, and Tavros thought it was because she liked him. But time after time he disappointed her and now she'll just be even angrier with him. "She said what!", Kanaya yelled, causing Tavros to pick his head back up. Kanaya seemed furious, and told Tavros, "When I'm done with her she'll be begging for your forgiveness, excuse, I must go see my rude matesprit".

      Tavros was surprised to hear Kanaya get angry, "Why does she care so much?", tavros thought. And then her last words sunk in, "My rude matesprit", Tavros had no idea they were dating. Tavros was so confused, so then did he just imagine that Vriska had feelings for him? "No, she must have felt something, why else would she have cared so much about toughening me up". Then Tavros thought, "Maybe, they're black feelings?", Tavros was very confused. He's not the type of troll who would really belong in a black relationship, but he enjoyed the time he spent with Vriska before the incident. "Maybe I could", Tavros began to think, "But how could I do that without my legs", he leaned on the table. Tavros heard footsteps passing by his booth, and looked over to see Equius walking by. That's when Tavros get a violent idea, "Hey, um, Equius, can you help me with something?".

       As Eridan was leaving his trailer with more of his magic show supplies, he saw Nepeta looking inside Gamzee's trailer. She seemed on alert, and when Eridan asked, "What are you doing?", she jumped, turning around to face him. "Have you seen karkat?", she said, with an angry tone and facial expression. "The last time I saw him was right before he went in there, woh, did he do that?", Eridan asked, once he noticed the mess in Gamzee's trailer. Nepeta started growling as she walked away, looking around for where Karkat went. She had already checked his trailer, but to no avail. Eridan took one last peek inside Gamzee's trailer and noticed a strange puppet sitting in a chair. It creeped him out, so he closed the door so just a crack of light still shined in. Then Eridan got back to hauling his supplies to the big tent. On his way there, Eridan could hear the shouting of two trolls. It was Vriska and Kanaya, Eridan didn't want anything to do with Vriska since their break up, so he kept walking.

      He approached the tent, and right before he entered it, he heard Tavros screaming at the top of his lungs. Eridan was a little concerned, but just went into the tent. When he entered, Gamzee had Terezi on his shoulders and was running right towards Eridan. He got knocked to the ground and watched Gamzee and Terezi run off toward Tavros's screams. "What the fuck is going on in this carnival", Eridan said, confused by all the seemingly random things going on.

(Work in progress)


End file.
